That seems to be the line of thought these days as lots of companies are jumping on the bandwagon of smiley faced logos ("Kraft Latest Marketer to Cheer Up Its Logo") and/or happiness-inspiring tag lines, such as:
Dunkin Donuts - "You kin do it!"
Coke - "Open Happiness"
OfficeMax - "Life is beautiful. Work can be too."
IKEA - "Embrace Change"
Kraft - "Make Today Delicious"
Pepsi - "Every Generation Refreshes The World"
I know that research must be telling marketers that, in this messed up world of foreclosures and layoffs and bankruptcies and busted pyramid schemes, people more than ever are looking for rays of sunshine and reasons to believe that good will overcome evil and that everything will be all right.
The problem is, how does this all relate back to Authenticity? Do people really believe that Coke will make them happy? Do they really believe that work can be beautiful right now? And even if they do, aren't they setting themselves up for a big disappointment when they discover that there is no rainbow nor pot of gold right now?
I'm wondering who is going to be the first one to address this crappy situation we are in head-on and provide real, authentic information as to how they fit in. Here are some of my suggestions based on the above:
Dunkin Donuts - "With everything else going on, are you really going to deny yourself a donut???"
OfficeMax - "Work will still suck, you might as well pay less for paper"
Pepsi - "The last generation really screwed things up - let's distance ourselves!"
Just some thoughts - clearly I'm no ad creative!
Pepsi - "The last generation really screwed things up - let's distance ourselves!"
Yes you are!
Posted by: Tom Asacker | February 26, 2009 at 11:09 AM